Ibn al-Nafis

Ala' al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qurashi al-Dimashqi, known as Ibn al-Nafis (607–687 AH), was a Syrian physician who worked in Egypt and is considered the greatest Arab physician after Ibn Sina. His most important contribution was the discovery and correct description of the pulmonary (minor) circulation of blood — the circulation of blood between the heart and lungs — nearly 300 years before William Harvey's work in the West. He also wrote a commentary on Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine and was a Shafi'i jurist who wrote on Islamic law and philosophy. He was the chief physician at the Mansuri Hospital in Cairo.